G-eam cubtis



Patented Deo. 26

IILHIINHHUI G. CURTIS.

AND' OTHER ARTICLES.

(No Model.)

OVEN AND GAR EUR HEATING AND TRANSPOETING CONVERTER BOTTOMS 1\To.2t` 9,643.V

l `Nit-ED STATES GRAM oUarIs, or

Armar GFFICE.

NE\V YORK, N. Y.

OVEN AND CAR FOR HEATING AND TRANSPORTING CONVERTER-BOTTOMS AND OTHER ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 269,643, dated December 26, 1882,

Application filed November 8, 1852. (Xo model) To all whom tt may concern Be it known that I, GRAM CURTls, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ovens and Cars for Heating and Transporting Bessemer ConverterBottoms, and Metals and other Materials, of which invention the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming pait ot' this specitication,ii1 which- Figure l is a verticallongitudinal section ot' an oven and cars illustrating my invention. 2 is a transverse section of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section thereof. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are details hereinafter described.

In the present form of ovens for heating Bessemer converter-bottoms the car which carries the converter-bottom is subject more or less to the heat ot' the oven, injuringthe car and rendering the use ot oil upon the wheeljournals im practicable, and therefore necessitating the use of a peculiar form of running gear, which is not adapted to transportation, but requiring a transfer ofthe bottom for-this purpose.

In my invention I have made the platform ofthe car, together with light movable additions thereto, form the bottom of the oven. These additions may be made at the ends, as shown; or they may be at the sides, or they muy be at both ends and sides, thus completely surrounding the body of car. This bottom is covered with sand or other refractory material, and when the'car is thus protected from the heat ot' the oven oil will remain on the axle, and the ordinary form of wheels and axles may be used.

Although useful in what is known as the acid process, my invention is of special value inthe so-called basicprocess.77 In the preparation ot'converter-bottoms in the basic process they should remain about three days in the oven. A pair of basic converters, when running normally, will require probably six bottoms a day. The oven or ovens which supply them must therefore hold eighteen bottoms; but eighteen separate ovens, with tracks convenient for reaching them, would occupy too much valuable ground in the vicinity ot a Bessemer plant. If the bottoms be placed two on a car, the ground occupied would t harm.

be less, though still considerable; but this would necessitate a transfer of the bottom wanted for use to another car, involving de- D lay, inconvenience, and heavy lifting machinery. For economy, therefore, in ground occupied, and also in time and labor, I have made the oven long enough to hold a train of several cars loaded each with a bottom. Whether one long oven for eighteen bottoms, or two shorter ones fornine each,or still shorter ones be used will be determined by local reasons. The train in all cases will be handled by locomotive-power.

The oven O may be built for one, two, or more cars, C. lf lor more than two, the most convenient form is to have doors'D at each end, and the cars upon tracks R are run in at one end and taken out at the other. Between the rails R there is a pit, P, three feet (more or less) deep, allowing the car to be got at for oiling, o., while iu the oven, and also permitting a circulation of air around the runv ning-gear and body ot' the car. This circula` tion ot' air is maintained through the pit by a chimney-line (not shown) opening into the pit at the middle of the oven or, what is better, a gentle blast ot' cold air may be directed against the bottom of each car.

The oven may be heated by a coal fire; but it is preferably heated by gas, as shown in drawings. For this purpose gas-lines M are built 1n the side walls. These walls are thicker at the base than is generally the casein ovens, the reason for this` being that very little clearance is desirable between the converter-bottoms A and the oven walls and root'.r This thickening forms a convenient place for locating the gas-tlues,wh ich `discharge the gas through small open ings m at convenient places into the oven. Attending each ot' these gasopenings is an air-passage, S, admitting the air for combustion from the outside of the oven or from a blast-main.

It-fw-ill probably not be necessary to make air-tight the joint b between the car-platform and the oven. This part of the oven is fitted with a cast-iron facing-plate, C, so that the car may scrape without doing injury. The small amount ot' air that leaks into the oven withthe joint thus fitted will, it is believed, do no If, however, it is deemed desirable to make this joint air-tight, this facing-plate may lli be constructed in the form of a trough, d, (see Fig. 4,) which is filled with sand, and the carplatt'orm is furnished on its sides with vertical flanges e, which project down into this santi, preventing air passing into the oven; or, vice versa, the groove filled with sand may be on the car and the sharp vertical dangebe on the oven.

rlhc movable section ofthe car-bed forming the oven-bottom is shown at G in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. It is made of sheet-iron strengthened. as shown, by vertical three-cornered braces K K. The vertical holes f/ g at the end of the section G are made to engage the vertical pinshhon the car I. (Shown in plan' View, Fig. 3, withoutthe movable sections attached.) The iront edge ot' this (the forward) section is made with an oii'cst, j, which runs under the rear section of the car preceding, thus forming a continuous surl'ace lor carrying the sand. The rear section is exactly like the front section, excepting the o'set j. The hole lc, which exists in both of the braces K K, is for the intro` duction oi' a long bar used only for putting on and taking oii' the section. The manner in which this is done is as follows: The section lying on the ground, a light gas-pipe bar is passed through the holes It' and extends two orthree fccteachsideot' the section. Three men then-one at each end of the bar and one seizing the section at some suitable point with tongs lift it and place the holes g g on the pins hy h. rIhc braces K K hold the scction horizontally by bearing against the car. When in position the' bar is withdrawn and the sand is spread for the oven. The manner of taking off the section is the same.

The ends of the oven are closed with doors, which may be lined with fire-brick, and which, for crmveniencc, are balanced and lift vertically.

'Ine following is the operation in using the oven: The car with the new bottom is run upon the track in front of the chimney end of thc oven. The sections are attached and spread with sand, as described. The car is then run upto and coupled with the car already in the oven. Here it remains till a heated bottom is needed. When one is re quired both doors are openedand the train ot' bottoms is moved along, the new one entering the oven and the heated one passing out at the other end. The doors are then closed, and the latter car is uncoupled, relieved of its sections, and, with its load, taken away.

I have shown gasjets all along the oven. It is deemed better to have them at the exit end of the oven. The car will then enter at the cool or chimney end and come out at the hot end.

I have described my invention as applied to the heating of converter-bottoms, for which purposeit was primarily designed. It is, however, equally applicable to furnaces in general, for ingot and billet heating purposes, and, by making the body of the car in the form of a basin of greater or less depth, to the receiving and transporting of melted metals or ot' blastfurnace slag` Snc., for puddling, or for the manufacture of mineral wool, and for other analogous uses. A car thus constructed may receive the molten material from the blast furnace or from other source, and may then be run into its own proper furnace, where the material will be kept hot while working; or the material may be melted in the car anti carried away for further working, th s avoiding tapping t'or the purpose of transportation.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to.

convey ores and bricks through roasting-furnaces or burning-chambers through the medium ot' a train of cars which are connected with each other in an air-tight manner and provided with means for insuring an airtight joint at the sides of the chamber through which they travel.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

l. A car for transporting converter-bottoms or other articles into or through a heating l'urnace or oven having movable or detachable end or side or both end and side sections or platforms, adapted for bridging the space be tween adjoining cars and between the cars and the walls and doors ot' a furnace or oven, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A car for transporting materials to be annealed, heated, or melted into or through a furnace or oven having a basin-shaped body, and movable or detachable end or side or both end and side sections, adapted for bridging the space between adjoining cars and between the cars and the walls and doors ofthe furnace or oven, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

3. The combination ot' the removable section G, having the openings g at one end and the ledge j at the other end, with the car I, provided with pins h, as and for the purpose set forth.

GRAM CURTIS.

)Vitne'ssesz TnEoDoRE Coornn. 'FRANK CURTIS.

IOO 

